THE FUTURE #4

John Wimber (1934-1997), founder of the Vineyard Movement, once said, “The kingdom is in the now and the not yet.” It is not the choosing between two worlds, but rather the uniting of two worlds. “Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven” is the union. Every moment lived on earth is filled with the spiritual life of heaven by the indwelling Holy Spirit. This gives us ‘divine nature’ and ‘divine life’ now. This is the gospel of the good news of good things: The Lord is not trying to get us into heaven, but He is trying to get heaven into us.

God does not exist in opposition to the world. He is not opposed to His own creation. God loves the world and is interested in every detail of earth life. We are not asked to give up the world, but to give up ‘worldliness,’ meaning the ways of the pagans and the unbelieving and the spirit of the age and to believe and cling to Christ in this world. This is our mandate: To fill the earth with God and that means to fill it with love. Such a life will never end because love makes it eternal.

“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus